Toy



Sept- 1, 1925.

A. euiss hf E11 M.

TOY

giiinaliiled April 18. 1922 1 INVENTORS A/erf Gazssarf BYldyarHBanbe ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 1, 1925.

UNITED star rarnur OFFICE.

ALBERT GUISSART AND EDGAR H. BARBE OF NEW YORK, N. Y.; SAID BARBE AS- SIGNOR TO S ID GUISSART,

TOY.

Application filed April 18, 1922, Serial No. 554,848. Renewed. January 29, 1925..

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that we ALBERT Goissinr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York,"

and EDGAR H. BARBIE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toys, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a toy of the type in which afalling substance, such as flowing sand, hereinafter referred to as a fluid, is caused to turn a. power wheel, which wheel in turn rotatesa shaft on which is mounted an acrobatic figure controlled in its contortions bythe rotation of the shaft.

One of theobjects of the invention is to provide. a simple form of toy of the class outlined but which will differ from similarv toys in that there will be caused an irregularity in the movement of the figure.

The invention contemplates the use of a power wheel which will receive a uniformly falling stream of sand and which wheel will be so designed that the sand will exert un balancing effects on the same to cause theshaft governed by the wheel to rotate some times in one direction; at other timesrin the opposite direction; at dilferentspeeds and for different time durations when moving at the different speeds and which speeds may be uniform or accelerating over different succeeding units of time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a character of figure and actuating mechanism therefor designed so that the figure will assume and hold different swingingpositions including a position in which the body portion of the figure extends horizontally.

Vi e attain this phase of the invention by forming the figure with a body portion and with arms pivotally connected thereto and by c-ounterbalancing the head portion of r the figure so that the center of gravity will be in line with the pivotal axis between the arms andbody portion.

Another object of the invention is to provide a form of toy which will either include or exclude the acrobatic figure and which will utilize the irregular flow of the sand or fluid discharged from the power wheel for the purpose of actuating some other mechanism.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in the form of toy hereinbefore in the following particular description of one form'of mechanism embodying my in vention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel'features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figur 1 is a view in front elevation of a toy constituting a preferred embodiment of our inventionand with partsbroken away to show details of construction; and

Figure 2 is avertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. In the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience of expression but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. 7 l

In the drawings there is shown a rectangular box or casing 10 divided by a partition 11 disposed to form a mechanism containing compartment 12 and an exposed fig ure containing compartment 18, visible from the outside of the device. The upper portion of the compartment 12 is provided with downwardly extending inclined walls 1 1 designed to form a funnel shaped sand reservoir '15 and having a lower discharge opening 16. A shaft 17 is positioned directly below the opening 16 and is journalled in bearings 18 and 19 carried by the rear side 'of the casing and the partition 11. A por tion of the shaft extends forwardly of the partition for carrying the figure 1'9 hereinafter more fully described. Mounted upon the shaft 17 and positioned directly below the outlet 16 is a tating the shaft.

The wheel is provided witlt axially spaced apart side plates'2O and 21 which are connected by a plurality of radially extending partitions 22. These partitions arespaced power wheel 20 for r0 apart different distances considered circumxf r t ally of theyvjhe i. Each of the p rthe discharge opening of the tunnel. The

pockets are of irregular shape and differ "fromieachiother in their VOlUIHQ CHCiGEL'PQOIlJy and in the different spacing'o'f. their bottoms $25 irom the axis of rotation of the-shaft 17.

By this construction llit is :to he understood that the-several pockets'will receive different amounts "of the sand and. in this Way an 'overhalanced pocket ion o-neside oi the vertical plane gpassing through the axis-of rotation of the shatt,-1 7 -Will cause the wheel, and with it :its shaft, ztorotate in the direction (of {the ioverbalancing force. The sand after it is discharged fromthe =Wl188ld$ received :onto inclined bottom shelving 26 which .coac ts to provide a discharge opening-27.

vFrom :this construction :it will be appreciated ithatzthe WhGQl evil-l discharge irregiu'lar amounts of sand-through thev opening 2.7 and this iirregulardischarge is utilized -.to actuate some form of instrument, such as ithe jpia'no keys 28, so 'as toycause :the piano 7 or other mechanism to function irregularly.

F or the purpose of returning the :sand

i' back into the hoppersthere is' provided a :re-

turn passageway 29 as outlined in dotted lines inathe ,showing in Figure 1.

The acrobatic figure '19 is formed of lZWO ma-in zparts .A hot -y portion 30 :and a pair ofarms 31 which arms are ipivotally conrnected =to-the body portion byimea ns of a pivot 1191 11 32 which pivot ,pin iforms rthe ;pi-votal axis of the @he hand ends 33- :ot the'arrns are secured to the projecting :end of the shatt17.

The body portion of the :figure .is counteribalanced 'so as to tbning the center of egra-.vity up to the pivotal axis between the arms :and fbody portion .and for this purpose the hack,

. part of thehead is provided Witha counter- Weight in operation {it will ihe understood -that the sand will run from !the' tunnel in a icon- 1 stantly ifallingrstream and in a manner .sim-

- force due to the greater amount of- Weight in iilarito the ifalil'of-sand' in an hour glass. .As the sand falls onto the wheelrit Will ,he received :inwhatever I pocket or pockets' may iaccidentally happen to be in .a receiving po sSltlO11=b6lOW-:thfi discharge :end of the innnel, and it is obvious that the Wheel will turn in the-direction of the overhalancing one pocket than in an opposing pocket. i

This will cause the wheel to have :an erratic action; sometime standing still and at other times rotating in one direct-ion and then suddenly moving in an opposite direction and for different timed durations. This ,erratic action of the shaft is, of course, commovement andflthe figurenot infrequently assumes a momentarily fixed horizontal posit-ion and goes through other movements simulating ithehaction ot a trapeze performer.

By suitably controlling the discharge outlet to the funnel and the capacity of the reservoir, the device can be caused to tunetion over a. relatively long period of time. and by simply inverting the toy the sand can be caused itO r-un quickly from the bottom .part of the casing through the bypassageway into the upper. reservoirand the devicetis again ready 'for continued op- .eration.

YVhile ave have shownand described, and have pointed out in-the annexed ,claims, certainznrovel tfeaturesiof our invention, it will be understoodthat various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and .deitails of the device illustrated and in its op- ;erationunay be made by those skilled .in the art avithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, .we claim: 7

1. .In a toy, thetcombination ot means for forming (a ,closed path, part of which is in down-ward direc-tion and which path .is adapted to have sand or a like fluid passed along the same, a. wheel mounted with its axis tin-the downward part of the path said Wheel 'having..-its:anis at-its center of figure landihaving :a series of radially extending '.partitions ,f'orming pockets therebetween, :sa1d;part1 t1ons being irregularly spaced circumferentially of the Wheel thereby to give the pocketsdilierent configurations and a two part figure, with the parts ,pivotally connectedandv with one of the parts secured tolthe WhBGl to he turned thereby. j

2. In a toy,i-the .com'b'nation of va ffunnel adapted ..to ,contain a fluid, .Wheel having peripheral pockets of ,difierent capacities disposed below the .funnel and .in position to receive the flow from the dischargeend of vtheiunnel, said- Wheel having itsaxis otto- .tation disposed vertically below the discharge .end .ozE- the funnel and capable of. rotating .in either direction about said axis under the unbalancing eiiect ofthe fluid in v t-he ,seueral pockets and tan acrobatic figure operatively connected to the Wheel to assume different positions dependent upon the speed and direction of rotation of the wheel.

3. In a toy, the combination of a power wheel having exposed peripheral pockets, said pockets having different volumetric capacities, means for directing a flow of a wheel actuating substance into the pockets and vertically downward along a line passing through the axis of rotation of the wheel whereby the wheel will be caused to turn irregularly and a device operatively connected to said wheel and actuated irregularly by the chance turning of the wheel.

4. In a toy, the combination of a shaft, a wheel fixed to the shaft and provided with a plurality of partitions triangular shape in cross section with their apices pointing outwardly and forming peripheral pockets, certain of said pockets having different shapes from certain other of said pockets, means for directing a fluid towards the apices, and into said pockets thereby to cause the shaft to move irregularly and an acrobatic figure operatively connected to said shaft to be balancing force of the sand, an acrobatic figure including a body portion. and an arm pivotally connected and means for connecting the hand end of the arm to said wheel.

6. In a toy, the combination of a funnel for discharging a uniform flow of sand or th like, a wheel having radially extending partitions spaced apart irregular distances circuinferentially of the wheel, each partition disposed when in/its uppermost position to receive the flow of sand on opposite sides thereof and said wheel adapted to turn in the direction of the overbalancing force of the sand, an acrobatic figure including a 1 7. In a toy, the combination of an acro batic figure including a body portion and arms pivotally connected, the head portion of the body provided with a counterweight to bring the center of gravity of the body approximately in line with the pivotal axis of the arms and body portion, and a rotating shaft connected to the arms of the figure.

8. In a toy, the combination of means for discharging a uniform flow of sand or the like, a shaft, an acrobatic figure operatively connected to the shaft to assume difierent positions dependent upon the movement of the shaft, said figure having its center of gravity at the axis of the pivotal connection between the arms and the body of the figure and a sand wheel having irregularly shaped pockets and actuated by the falling sand for translating the uniform fall of the sand into an irregular movement of the shaft.

9. In a toy, the combination of a funnel for discharging a uniform flow of sand or the like, means disposed in the path of the falling sand for intercepting the uniformity of the fall and to cause the sand to fall irregularly and mechanism disposed in the path of and controlled by the irregular action of the falling sand.

This specification signed this 13th day of April, 1922.

ALBERT GUISSART. EDGAR H. BARBE. 

